When Words Collide

Thursday, December 28, 2006

As you may or may not know, Hal Turner's radio show was brought to a financial stand-still by DoS attackers. More information can be found here.

Because the events of the past week have transpired so quickly, the intentions of Anonymous have been misconstrued. Turner believes he is under attack because of his personal opinions, and that we are infringing on his right to free speech. He repeatedly uses this stance to appeal to his fans, and ultimately to supplement his budget.

I'm all for the freedom of speech. If Turner wants to be racist, he has every right to be. To speak one's mind without fear of retribution is a part of the foundation and spirit of America. However, when one's words begin to infringe on the rights of others (such as the advocacy of imminent violence) speech is no longer protected.

While some users may be motivated by Turner's racism, it is not the primary reason for the attacks. It began "for the lulz"--for laughs--during the December 20th broadcast which resulted in a number of prank phone calls (although interestingly enough, it has been stated the prank calls were to shed negative light on Turner for failing to help the white movement).

The laughter turned to anger when the contact information of some of the callers was posted on Turner's website. Browsing through the comments made on the December 20th show, it becomes clear that Turner was urged to post this information, often with claims of violent response. Sadly, all of the comments have been deleted, but if anyone has screen shots—please, let me know.

Turner knew what kind of audience he was releasing the information to. In fact, Turner openly admits the use of a "personal army" to carry out his threats. An example audio clip can be found here (NSFW).

Turner has an extensive history of threats, many of which leading to violence against a highlighted target. For example, Turner wrote the following:

"Let me just take this opportunity to remind U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton, that I, me, Hal Turner, uttered on this radio show that a ruling that had been made by a different Federal Judge, Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow, in Chicago...I uttered that her ruling made her worthy of being killed and in March of this year her family was murdered. I don't like this ruling that was issued by U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton in San Francisco, saying that the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional. I hope I don't have to make a similar utterance about Judge Karlton like I made about Judge Lefkow. You people on the Federal Bench think you can't be gotten to...you *can* be gotten to."

After the death of the Lefkow’s family, Turner posted a picture of her with the headline of “Gotcha!” For more examples of his threats, visit this article.

While no direct connection can be made between Turner and the murders, it is obvious he has a level of influence in the white supremacist community. It is also clear he gave the contact information of minors to an audience who stated they were willing to commit acts of violence in his name. If this isn’t a clear and present danger, I don’t know what is.

The following is quoted from Anonymous:

--------Federal Interstate Stalking Law

In terms of what Mr. Turner can be punished under, I cite § 2261A of TITLE 18, PART I, CHAPTER 110A:Whoever—(1) travels in interstate or foreign commerce or within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, or enters or leaves Indian country, with the intent to kill, injure, harass, or intimidate another person, and in the course of, or as a result of, such travel places that person in reasonable fear of the death of, or serious bodily injury to, that person, a member of the immediate family (as defined in section 115) of that person, or the spouse or intimate partner of that person; or(2) with the intent—(A) to kill or injure a person in another State or tribal jurisdiction or within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States; or(B) to place a person in another State or tribal jurisdiction, or within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, in reasonable fear of the death of, or serious bodily injury to—(i) that person;(ii) a member of the immediate family (as defined in section 115) of that person; or(iii) a spouse or intimate partner of that person,uses the mail or any facility of interstate or foreign commerce to engage in a course of conduct that places that person in reasonable fear of the death of, or serious bodily injury to, any of the persons described in clauses (i) through (iii),shall be punished as provided in section 2261 (b).

Those that threatened Mr. Turner are also subject to the same law; however, from my recollections, the callers stated that his wife and son would be "raped by a band of black men and Hispanics" and could easily be dismissed in court if the defendants can prove that they have no association with such individuals. If on the other hand the callers explicitly stated that they would be performing the aforementioned action of rape, then they would be facing similar punishments. However, given that Mr. Turner is not well received by many in the legal community, and given the age of the perpetrators, I imagine their sentence would be far less than his.

Beyond this, Mr. Turner can also be charged under § 876 TITLE 18, PART I, CHAPTER 41 for mailing threatening communications, § 1461 TITLE 18, PART I, CHAPTER 71 for mailing obscene or crime-inciting matter, § 1470 TITLE 18, PART I, CHAPTER 71 for the transfer of obscene material to minors, and finally § 241 TITLE 18, PART I, CHAPTER 13 for conspiracy against rights.--------

He states he cannot be touched by law enforcement officials because the physical threats to the minors have not been carried out. Aside from a faked incident of attack on a prankster (found here), no one has been physically injured. Personally, I believe it is inappropriate to wait for an incident to occur. Turner’s past threats, combined with the stated intentions of harming the minors by his supporters, it is easy to comprehend the possibility of violence as a result of Turner's actions. This is the intention of attacks, and the cause of the Turner-Chan War. Not because we care about what he has to say.

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

While looking through these forums, I noticed the following screen shots (click for larger version):

At first, I was very concerned. As irrational as physical violence against prank callers is, I did not doubt it would be possible. After all, Hal seems to have his own personal army to conduct violence for him (listen here).

However, my concern turned to laughing my ass off when I noticed the next screen shot:

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

On December 20th, 2006, an internet raid was conducted on the radio show of white supremacist Hal Turner, known for his support of violence against minorities. During the show, an unusually large amount of prank calls were made, loosely organized through internet forums and IRC.

The following is a summary of events as described from a (now deleted) post at the VNN forums, as recorded here.

..

Thursday, Mr. Turner decided to go through the caller ID list he gets from his phone provider, Vonage, and post the numbers he believed were the pranksters. Out of the 12 numbers posted, 8 were obvious caller ID spoofs, and 4 were actual minors who didn't use online telephones like Skype, or were too dumb to hit *67. So Hal decided to pursue this as revenge by posting the numbers on his site and going after the website that coordinated the radio prank by sending off e-mails to have material on that site deleted and the IP addresses of the posters revealed. However, Mr. Turner claimed his lawyers did the emailing, when actually the e-mail was so misdirected, it was obvious that Mr. Turner did it himself.

Friday night, Mr. Turner got an unwelcome surprise. The online pranksters purchased background information and solicited other online databases to find Mr. Turner's house number. Yes, his actual house number, and decided to call him up for extra laughs. Mrs. Turner answered the phone and she wasn't too excited to hear from these pranksters. She threatened to call the police after the caller failed to identify his name and phone number for Mr. Turner to call back. She started to get angry, threatened to post the caller's phone number on the Internet and claim Mr. Turner was not available to take the call, however Mr. Turner got on the phone after a few minutes. The caller told Mr. Turner to remove all information on his website regarding the pranksters, the caller ID lists, and the comments area or his personal information, including his house number, would be posted online. At first, Mr. Turner acted like he would not submit to their demands, and hung up, however after a flood of random phone calls from people on the Internet started, Mr. Turner gave into the harassment, removing all the information that the caller demanded.

Mr. Turner got on his website and submitted to these pranksters demands, removing all the information they requested and replaced it with MERRY CHRISTMAS.

..

On Christmas Eve, he reposted the caller information, pledging to "punish [the crank callers] with a fury [they] have never encountered." Claiming the continued prank calling resulted in threats to his family, Turner issued his own threats:

The ONLY thing any of you are accomplishing is raising the level of brutality I intend to use when I take revenge.

Here is how I will mete out justice according to the action committed:

1) Some of you are going to get the shit beaten out of you.

2) Others are going to be beaten to death, and finally;

3) Others are going to have firebombs thrown through the windows of their houses WHILE THEY ARE HOME and when they - and their families come out, their throats will be cut.This is the price I will exact for :

1) Harassing my wife (who has nothing to do with my radio show)2) Recording the harassment of my wife and putting it on the net and3) Harassing my senior citizen mother.

I am so motivated to to physical violence to these people that I don't even care to state my intentions publicly. Neither cops, nor Prosecutors, nor Judges will be able to stop me.

..

Using the legal system to get their identities is one thing, payback is quite another.

I don't have to win in court, I only need to win out of court.

Street justice. Get it?

..

I meant every word and I absolutely will carry out every word. Nothing on earth can prevent it.

You dare say I put myself in this position? Fuck you. You guys called MY show. You guys Crank Called and threatened MY wife. You guys crank called and threatened my mother.

I didn't start this, but I will God Damned well finish it.

Laugh all you like. We'll see how hard you laugh when my hand is crushing your windpipe and you're drowning on your own blood.

..

Please provide a decent argument for wanting people KILLED, for PRANK CALLING your show and you.